I learnt the dwarven shopkeeper’s name to be Thurrea.

“So what bring you to the Murvoshian Empire?” she asked me as she closed her shop.

“It’s a long story,” I told her.

“You’re not much of a talker, huh?”

“I just don’t like talking about my past.”

“Very well, so long as you’re not a murderer or someone running from Elvish officials.”

I laughed, “Nah. My life isn’t that excited. Besides, the only memories I have are of this city. So instead of Elvish officials coming after me, it will probably be humans.”

Thurrea nodded, “Ornia seems to be a harsh city for someone soft looking as yourself. No offense.”

Ornia is the name of this city I live in. It is also the name of the province. Ornia is the easternmost province of the empire, it’s capital city of 30,000 inhabitants are located in the city of Ornia.

If she was expecting a reaction from me then she won’t get it. I grinned.

“You’ll be surprised what this cute face can do,” I told her.

“You’re not that cute.”

“So you do recognise that I’m cute but due to your high standards, you won’t admit I’m better looking than you.”

“Elves are all the same. You care too much about how you look.”

“But you’re the one who commented on my looks. Just admit it, Thurrea. You find me ravaging.”

Thurrea burst into laughter, “You’re full of yourself!”

There were a couple of people staring at us as we walked about the city square. Thurea had this boisterous laugh that could draw in people from afar.

Since Thurrea was a dwarf, she’s shorter than me. Not by much as her height was just below my shoulders. I’ve heard rumours that female dwarfs had beards but Thurrea doesn’t have a hair on her chin. I guess you can’t believe everything you hear from travellers.

“Thanks for hiring me,” I said to her as we turned a corner.

“No problem. Though I’m curious to see you in action.”

“I probably should call you Boss from now on.”

“Boss?”

“I am your employee, even though temporary.”

“I guess so.”

“So thank you Boss for hiring me!”

Thurrea nodded with a smile, “I do like the sound of Boss. Say it again.”

“Boss. Boss. Boss. Boss.”

“Don’t ruin the moment by just drooling over it.”

“But I was just following your orders,” I pouted.

She stopped walking and started laughing, drawing eyes to our direction again, “You’re so bizarre, for an elf.”

“I do aim to please. If my bizarre nature brings smile to your face, then my job for the day is half complete.”

“You’re buttering me up with sweet words.”

I smiled, “Do you hate it?”

She chuckled and continued to walk without saying a word.

I’ll take that as a yes.

And so we walked to her family restaurant. As we entered the shop, I noticed how empty the place was even though the space was large. The door had a sign saying it was open, but not a single soul was inside.

“Lorbic, I got someone to help you out.”

I’m coming!” shouted someone from the kitchen.

I waited and looked around. That’s when I noticed a music box playing. This place is really posh, providing relaxing music for its patrons while the dine.

The brother got out of the kitchen and approached us. His eyes landed on me.

He had this huge beard and round belly for a dwarf. “Is that an elf?”

“Yep, an elf.”

“You got an elf to work for us?”

“Well, he was the one who suggested finding work in order to pay for strings he can’t afford.”

“An elf chose to work for a dwarf?” the brother, Lorbic, asked rhetorically.

The siblings stared at each other.

“Bahahahaa!” they bellowed in laughter, tears streaming down their faces.

I just stood there, scratching my hand, not sure what to do.

Their laughter immediately died down when another booming voice erupted from the storage room of restaurant

“Why laughing!? You job need do!” another dwarf emerged. She looked old, judging by her grey hair which was different from the brown hair of the two siblings.

“Grandma!” Thurrea exclaimed.

“Thurrea. Go weapon shop. You lazy girl!” the grandmother shouted. She only clamed down when she saw me standing.

“He’s coming looking for a job to pay for an item he can’t afford, grandma. I hope you don’t mind,” said Thurrea.

“Really?” the grandmother asked me.

“Yes, Thurrea is telling the truth.”

“You job want?”

“Yes. It’s temporary though.”

The grandmother approached me, slowly.

“You elf, right?” she asked

“I believe so.”

“Kneel,” she ordered.

That’s a weird request but respect for elders is important in society. And grandparents are more revered than mothers.

I knelt before her.

She touched my cheeks and stared deeply at my eye.

“Your eyes,” she whispered to me.

I didn’t know what she was talking about as her Ornic was difficult to follow at times. Thurrea no longer had that carefree smile but rather stared at the tilled floor. Her brother doing the same.

I was about to shift my gaze to the grandmother. I noticed a movement in my peripheral vision.

Smack.

When her hand connected with my left cheek, I was sent to the floor. Half my face was set alight by that hit.

What in the world did I do to deserve this!?

Thurrea stepped before the granny dwarf and me, “Grandma, don’t be like that!”

But the grandmother had vigour in her voice and she glared angrily at me, “Teuki!”

Snake. That was what she said to me, in Elvish.

“Grandma, he isn’t one of them. Trust me!”

“How can you be so cordial with our enemies, Thurrea. Have you gone insane?”

“Please calm down, grandma. You’re going to get a stroke again!” Lorbic intervened.

I think the most surprising thing wasn’t the slap, that I got over quickly. It was the fact that they were speaking Elvish to one another. Why not Dwarvish, if there is such a language. Or even Ornic, but Elvish. That was odd to me.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The shouting calmed down.

“Please apologise, grandma.”

“Never!” she shouted.

Lorbic took the grandmother away as she cursed me in Elvish, her face was red all over.

Thurrea laughed nervously at me, “Sorry about that. She is like that to people she doesn’t know.”

“Sure.”

“She apologised for her behaviour.”

I stared at Thurrea. Did she think I didn’t understand Elvish?

I continued to feign my ignorance, “I’m prepared to leave if your family disapproves of me being here.”

“No, we made a deal and I’m not going against it. I’m curious after all if you can get enough customers in here.”

“Thanks, I’ll try not to disappoint you, Boss,” I winked at her.

“You still have the energy to joke around.”

“For an old lady, she put in a lot of strength in that slap. “

“Sorry again.”

“I said I was okay, no need to apologise.”

I saw Lorbic coming back into the restaurant after taking the grandmother away.

“She’s calmed down. I think after she had some of her warm beeer, she’ll sleep snuggly again.”

Warm beer? Sounds worse than regular beer.

“Sorry about that,” the brother said to me. “She is usually nice to people, must have been an episode.”

“No need to explain it to me. Stuff happens.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“So let’s get started,” I said to them smiling.

The dark atmosphere lightened up a bit.

“I better leave then. The weapon shop needs me. See you later, Ruihyn,” said Thurrea as she walked out of the door.

“Bye, Boss!”

She giggled but carried on walking away until she was out of sight.

The next fifteen minutes I spent with Lorbic. He taught me the basics of restaurant, the menu and the most important item in this restaurant.

“Honeybeer,” Lorbic said to me smiling.

“Honeybeer. That’s the beverage this restaurant is known for?”

“Yep, back home it is a popular drink among the dwaves. Our family has been producing the drink for over a decade and there’s a lot of opportunity selling honeybeer in this realm..”

I nodded.

“Do you want to taste it?” Lorbic asked.

“No!” I cried out. “I don’t drink beer.”

“You don’t drink beer?”

“It’s not for me.”

“How are you going to sell it to our customers if you don’t know how it tastes like?”

Before I could answer him, I heard the front entrance door open. The first customer of the day.

He arrived in full plated armour, with large sword on his back.

“Can I have some damn service!” he bellowed, taking a sit on one of the empty tables.

I rushed to this man, who had a gold plate on his neck indicated his was a gold-ranked adventurer.

“Good mor-“

He cut me off by raising his hand, “Beer. What’s the best beer you have here?”

“Honeybeer,” I said quickly.

“I don’t like sweet drinks. Give me ale.”

“It’s the spec-“

“I said I wanted some beer.”

“We have only honeybeer.”

“I don’t want it. Give me something else.”

“How about whiskey?”

He shook his head, “Too strong for the throat.”

“You can always have water.”

He glared at me, “I want beer. And don’t tell me crap about that hooney-shit. Probably tastes disgusting.”

I was about to say that honeybeer doesn’t taste horrid but then again I never drank it. If I’m going to change his mind, I might as well not challenge him. After all, an unhappy patron is probably not going to tip well.

“May I inquire of your name, adventurer?”

He looked up at me, “Why does that matter? I just want beer and not some pep talk.”

“I apologise. I saw the gold plate and thought you must be skilled.”

He stared at me to see where I was going.

“You probably heard of the beneficial effects of alcohol and honey mixed together.”

“Never heard such a thing.”

I took a sit across of him, “How so? I thought adventurers were looking out for the next big thing.”

“What’s your point, boy?”

“You know that the best items and potions can be in unusual places. This restaurant sells honeybeer. I didn’t want to tell you about the benefits and I thought you already knew.”

“Benefits of honeybeer?” he sat up.

I nodded vigorously, “There are so many I can’t even count them all. Helps your metabolism, increases your stamina and creates focus. Helps with nerves and stuff like that. And there’s on more secret benefit but you have to promise to tell no one. The owners don’t want me to tell people about it.”

“Why will you tell me?”

“You’re look like an adventurer of action. I can see it in your eyes. When you entered, your aura filled the place. I thought you were nobility.”

He laughed. He was a beastkin, no doubt about it. A tail and ears of a wolf.

“A valiant adventurer. One who doesn’t take crap from no one. You brave sir, you’re clearly strong and fearless

“Damn right!”

“And that’s why I believe you can be trusted with this secret.”

He moved his face closer to me.

“Honeybeer is made by dwaves who come from faraway place. They bring ancient knowledge to help adventurers like yourself. The secret is that honeybeer increases the rate in which you level up.”

“No way.”

“Yes way,” I lied. “Look at me, do you see me as a strong and fit individual? Clearly I’m not.”

He looked me up and down but didn’t say anything. But his eyes were agreeing with the statement.

“So guess what I did. I took the [Bard] two weeks ago and drank a whole ton of honeybeer. Now, I’m level 19.”

“No way!”

“I’m telling, my good sir. I wouldn’t lie. In just two weeks of drinking this stuff, I gained 18 levels! You can cast a spell to see if I’m lying.”

“You’re seriously a [Bard] in level 19?”

“And I’m not even an adventurer!”

His eyes lit up. “So, how much must I drink to get these benefits.”

I got him, now to reel him in.

“Simple. In order for the effects of higher increased rate in levelling to take affect, you must drink over two dozen jugs of honeybeer. It’s not for everyone. But seeing how strong you are, you can manage. Look at me, I’m a twig and I can handle two dozen jugs for over two weeks. I’m sure it would be easy for.”

“Damn right!”

Hopefully he’ll pass out before reaching 24.

I ran back to the kitchen and gave the order of for two dozen jugs of honeybeer

“Two dozen? Are you sure you got the order right?” Lorbic asked me, concerned.

“Yep.”

“That can’t be.”

“You don’t believe me?”

Lorbic didn’t respond and walked up to the adventurer, “Did you order two dozen honeybeers.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

No, if the adventurer tells Lorbic about the ‘benefits’ of the honeybeer then it would ruin everything.

“Adventurer,” I stepped in, “My supervisor here is actually asking whether you can handle drinking so much. Some people have weak liver after all.”

Fire erupted in the adventurers eyes, “I can handle drinking the damn thing. In fact, give me three dozen of honeybeer.”

Lorbic looked oddly at me.

“You heard him, Lorbic. We can’t deny what the customer wants,” I said to him.

He groaned, “Fine, but this establishment isn’t some common tavern!”

“I’ll handle our dear friend if things go awry,” I reassured Lorbic.

He nodded and walked back to the kitchen to prepare the drink.

I stood there waiting for new customers to come in but none did.

The adventurer stared at me as though inquiring about his beers. Soon, Lorbic called me out and I helped him with bringing in nine honeybeers to the table. It would be impractical to give this adventurer all 36 in one go.

“I wonder if he wants some food with that,” Lorbic mused.

“If he wants food, he’ll order it. But I’m sure the beer will fill him up.”

Lorbic nodded, “Ordering just drinks isn’t going to make us much money. Customer also have to buy meals.”

“I’ll try to solve this, Lorbic.”

To remedy this situation, seeing that no more customers were coming in, I walked out of the restaurant and looked out for potential customers.

People were busy working around doing their own thing. Since this restaurant was located in the city square where there are many shops, it would make sense for this street in front of the shop to be so busy.

I wasn’t looking for just about anyone to come to the shop. I needed people who had money to spend. In other words, adventurers. And I saw a group of five adventurers smiling and laughing as they walked down the street.

“That was a fine mission. That Goblin Lord sure made our lives difficult,” I overheard one of the adventurers say to their teammates

“Yeah, but the bonus payment we got for bringing back that engagement ring was awesome,” another of the five chimed in.

“I told you that looking for that ring in the lair was worth it.”

“We could have easily been swamped by those monster insects. It was utterly reckless going after a bonus payment.”

I could hear the rustling of coins in their pockets.

I rushed to them and stopped in front of the adventurers.

They looked at me confused, “What do you want?” one of them asked.

Two of the adventurers were fairies and the three were beastkin.

“Are you adventurers?” I asked them

They laughed, “Are you blind? Of course we are adventurers.”

“Sorry! I can be dumb at times. I work there and we’re having a special for adventurers such as yourselves.”

“We’re not hungry. In any case, we going to a tavern to celebrate,” the leader who had slit eyes and a forked tongue said to me.

“I understand that adventurers of your kind will prefer that.”

“Your kind?” the leader stepped closer to me, I could see the anger in her eyes..

I raised my hands in defence, “I apologise for coming off rude. I didn’t mean to. All I wanted was to welcome adventurers to our restaurant. I mean, it is understandable you won’t eat or drink premium food items. I mean, who needs to celebrate after a difficult mission.”

“Premium food?” one of the adventurers.

“Yeah, premium food. There’s nothing like eating good food and a cold beer at the end of a hard day. In fact, the family has been in business for over 200 years. Each generation perfecting the food and drink”

“200 years!?” they said in shock.

I nodded.

“Let’s try out this restaurant. See if it’s any good,” one of them said.

The others nodded and I happily escorted them to the restaurant. I must admit, I accidentally hinted that the honeybeer is rumoured to help in level progression. Imagine my shock when they ordered five jugs each.

I went back outside to try and snatch a few more adventurers wandering around. My eyes landed on three human females in blue and gold stripped robes.

“Hi there!” I smiled at the trio of [Battle Mages].

They stared at me. “Yes?”

“You’re [Battle Mages]?”

“Elf, don’t pretend you don’t know what class we are.”

“Sorry. It’s just so memorising to see [Battle Mages] in person.”

“What do you want?” one of the said disinterested.

“I work for a new restaurant and thought you might want to try it out.”

“What makes you think we’ll eat from an establishment built by elves?”

“Well, I don’t own it. Second, the people who own it are dwarves and they want to celebrate. You see, I heard that before they came here, they were saved by brave [Battle Mages] like yourselves. It’s the family’s way of showing gratitude.”

They looked uneasily at me though I could see they were intrigued. I had to sweeten the deal.

“The first meal and drink is free. Just come all in. It’s the most we can do for our glorious Empress.”

“The food is free,” said one of the [Battle Mages].

I escorted them to the restaurant, silently vowing to make sure they pay for more than one meal and drink.

I quickly took their order and left the restaurant for the last time. I found a group of humans who had lots of money in their pockets. How did I know that they had lots of money? [Echolocation].

“You want us to eat from a restaurant owned by non-humans?” one of the humans asked bitterly at me.

“Well, [Battle Mages] frequent the place. But I’m sure you folks know better than [Battle Mages].”

“[Battle Mages] frequent the restaurant?” one of the humans asked me.

I nodded, “Come see. There are already three seated.”

I didn’t need to say anymore as they rushed by themselves to the restaurant.

I deserve to get paid for this. Tipping alone is not enough.

I took a deep and focused on what really mattered; those lute strings.

My day was rather busy and I worked for the whole afternoon until the sun dipped down the horizon. Once the restaurant served it’s last customer, my legs were wobbly.

It was only my first day and I was utterly exhausted.

“Wow, there were a lot of customers in today,” laughed Lorbic as he locked the door to the restaurant.

“I think it’s the honeybeer that really got them.”

“Sure,” he gave me that look of slight disbelief. “Anyway, you want to come for dinner? You haven’t eaten anything for the whole.”

“That’s okay. Besides, I don’t want to anger your grandmother.”

“Oh. But have a goodnight, Ruihyn.”

“You too, Lorbic.”

I waved goodbye. I can’t believe I have to do this running around tomorrow also.

Breathe. The goal are those lute strings.